Revelation 2:12-17 To the Church in Pergamum

 

This week we’re at the third letter of Jesus to the seven cities of Revelation. Pergamum was the home of the second largest library in the known world at the time. It was a city where knowledge and influence were important, an educated city. Learning was really important here, but it was also a city of industry with a number of workers’ guilds holding great influence and made their money making and selling objects related to the library and temples. Pergamum was also home to 5 different temples, one of which was the temple to the god Aesculapius, the god of healing and a serpent was his symbol. This educated setting is important as we seek to understand this letter of Jesus.  

Jesus unexpectedly states that Satan’s throne is in Pergamum. Those who believe in Jesus faced times of persecution, but what made Pergamum the place where Satan would have his throne? It wasn’t an easy place for followers of Jesus to live. They were surrounded by all kinds of influences: pagan religious influences, but also the attraction of knowledge and philosophy in the traditions of Greece, Rome and the East. Persecution was real; Jesus praises the Christians for “remaining true to my name. you did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness who was put to death in your city, where Satan lives.” Antipas was a follower of Jesus and martyred by being put inside a copper bull which was then heated up until he died. With such strong faith, what could Jesus have against them?

Yet Jesus does have some things against them, “There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. Likewise, you have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.” We first come across Balaam in the book of Numbers in the Old Testament. Israel is wandering through the wilderness and Balak is a king who hires Balaam, a prophet, to curse Israel. God interferes with Balaam, making him bless Israel instead of cursing them, getting Balaam in trouble with Balak.

Balaam then takes a different approach and advises Balak to seduce the men of Israel with the women of Moab, and to turn Israel to Baal away from God. This story is told in Numbers 25 through 31. Balaam gets mentioned a number of times in the New Testament because his advice in how to turn people away from God and Jesus is still powerful today. Peter writes in 2 Peter 2:15, “They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness.” Balaam’s way’s all about money and wickedness. Jude rebukes certain godless men in the church, “Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.” We’re reminded that Balaam’s “error” is ultimately about money and greed. He’s paid because he seduced Israel to become like the nations around them.

The church in Pergamum stayed strong and true to Jesus, even though it led to persecution and death, like Antipas. Yet they were starting down a dangerous faith road. They wanted to be part of the world around them while following Jesus. They want to be accepted by those outside the church by being like them. Balaam’s way is about compromising our faith beliefs in order to be accepted by the world around us. Jesus calls us to a different way of living, a harder way of living by his way. Jesus is focused on shaping us into his image; a way of living that many people don’t understand.

The temples hosted regular festivals. Eating food sacrificed to idols was often part of the festivals and culture in the cities and part of the social life of the people. Festivals are fun, when we lived in Montreal, the festivals were a great way to spend some relaxing time with friends: the Jazz Fest, the fireworks festival every Friday night in the summer, the various cultural festivals where you would hear great music and eat amazing food. It’s all part of the social culture of Montreal. Yet there was a darker part of the festivals in the time of John, and many of our festivals today as well, many of them included prostitution, along with excessive drinking, and wildness. Since everyone else was doing it, it was easy to justify joining in. Balaam’s influence led to the thinking that “a little sin won’t really harm us.”

Libraries were places where scholars came to do research. Lauren Young writes in the Atlas Obscura, “The Library of Alexandria, Egypt was a research hub of high prestige. But while certainly the largest of its time and the most famous, the Library of Alexandria wasn’t the only institution of its kind. Libraries throughout the ancient world competed to be the best Greek library, ... Gaëlle Coqueugniot writes, “The library was a means [for the kings] to show off their wealth, their power, and mostly to show that they were the rightful heirs of Alexander the Great.”

The study done in these libraries shaped the values and morals of that world, and impacts western culture still today. It’s from this philosophy that we get the idea of an impersonal God who has a hands-off relationship with humanity, which contradicts who Jesus is; we get the idea that we create truth, which contradicts Jesus who calls himself the truth; it separates the body and soul, which means that whatever we do is less important than what we think or believe and this makes Jesus becoming human unimportant and that we do with our bodies doesn’t really matter; and there’s more. Non-Christian philosophy works to make God smaller and people greater. Many of the moral issues we wrestle over today have been shaped by scholars and teachers whose scholarship teaches us a different morality and ethic from the Bible.   

Can we be just like the world and still serve God? Balaam encouraged compromise, wanting us to forget we’re called to be separate and holy. Compromise makes us look just like everyone else so that our light fails to shine into the world. It’s the belief that “a little sin” doesn’t hurt, especially if there’s financial or personal benefit involved. It’s the view that Christians can compromise their convictions for the sake of popularity, money, sexual gratification, or personal gain and still make Jesus happy. This is what Satan wants, this makes Satan happy.

Pergamum focused on health, body, soul, and mind. They had doctors for the body, temples for the soul, and scholars for knowledge. Knowledge is good, God wants us to know more about the world we live in, to know and learn about how our minds and bodies work, to understand how people relation to each other, but knowledge is not morality or ethics, those come from elsewhere. Knowledge can be used to please and honour God and guide us in the way of Jesus, or it can be used to justify doing our will instead of God’s will. Balaam used his knowledge of people for his own personal benefit; using his knowledge of faith and people to lead people away from God’s way and to benefit himself.

Jesus is our wisdom and truth, he’s the one who can heal, not just our body, but our souls as well. If you’re going to listen and grow from anyone’s teaching, turn to Jesus’ teaching that he is the Son of God who has come to take away the sin of the world through the cross, who is raised to new life so we can have new life, and now calls us to share the good news and make new disciples. Turn to Jesus’ teaching on how to live life based on grace, forgiveness, and mercy; a life based on his life, the kingdom of heaven, and eternal truth and you will find healing for your soul.

Jesus’ teaching guides us into a life of wisdom that leads to self-sacrifice and generosity, an outward focused life that focuses on discipling others as a disciple of Jesus. We’re called to live as light in the world, shining hope and truth into the hearts and lives of our community. We are called to stand up for truth, righteousness, and goodness, whether it’s what others want to hear or not. We’re called to lead them to the one who died for humanity so that we can experience new life and a renewed relationship with God our Father.

The white stone is a reference to brave gladiators. There were times in the arena where a gladiator would do something so special and amazing that the official at the fights would give him a special reward; a white stone with special letters on it that allowed him to retire and be provided for. Jesus is calling us, his followers to be brave, to hold true to his teaching and way, and he will give us his white stone and the promise that he will protect and provide for us.

 

Revelation 2:8-11 To the Church in Smyrna

 

Jesus, in a vision to John who’s exiled on the island of Patmos because of his loyalty to Jesus, writes a number of letters to different churches. Jesus reveals himself through images from the prophet Daniel; he’s dressed in radiant robes, head and hair white as snow, eyes like blazing fire, holding seven stars in his hand, a sword coming out of his mouth, his face shining like the sun. It’s all about power and holiness. Jesus is walking among seven lampstands which represent the churches; showing he’s with his people.

The second letter Jesus sends is to the church in Smyrna. This is one of two letters where Jesus doesn’t say he has anything against them. This is a letter of encouragement that holds a promise of life in the face of death. This letter’s all about persecution and not giving up. There’s a smell and taste of death all through this letter. The name Smyrna means myrrh, which is used in embalming dead bodies. Even the city’s name points us to the image of death.

Jesus calls himself the “First and the Last, who died and came to life again.” Jesus died for our sins, but he also rose from the dead. Jesus reminds them that death’s not the end of the story because he is the first and last, and is victorious over death. We don’t have to fear death because we will be raised up from the dead through Jesus. Revelation is a story of hope, even in the middle of persecution and suffering. The Bible reminds us that Jesus understands suffering and death and knows what we need to make it through. In Revelation 12, we’re given a picture of Jesus being pursued by the dragon who is trying to destroy Jesus. The dragon is part of the unholy trinity you find in Revelation, made up of Satan, the beast and the dragon, and they’ve set themselves up against God’s people. Through the Holy Spirit in us, Jesus experiences our pain and suffering with us and through us and gives us strength. He says we will face persecution for 10 days, a Hebrew way of saying it will be for the proper amount of time.

Smyrna was a place of beauty and contained a temple built to honour the emperor Tiberius and was a center of emperor worship. Titus Kennedy writes on his website, Jesus’ letter to Smyrna was “written during the time of Domitian and Christian persecution, the church at Smyrna faced even more opposition than most, due to the strong influence of emperor worship in the city, which at that time was required by law and punishable by imprisonment or death. An interpretation of the reference to the “synagogue of Satan” is tentative, but it may refer to Jews who not only opposed Christianity, but also participated in the imperial cult.” Calling Jesus Lord made you a traitor to the emperor. This was the charge Jesus faced and which led him to the cross.

How does that work today? We don’t have an emperor cult, or do we? Look at politics today There are more similarities to emperor worship today than we want to admit. The Bible reminds us, don’t put your trust in princes. All our leaders have clay feet and will disappoint us. Politics has taken on a religious fervor and passion over the past few decades. If you don’t believe exactly as the leader does, then you don’t belong. Their beliefs have become the new moral and ethical compass for people to be judged by. Denmark is looking to enact laws to make all religious leaders submit their sermons in Danish to the government to be monitored. Other European countries are watching and Canada is slowly moving in that direction with certain laws being considered in a number of our legislatures.

Should that lead to persecution, Jesus tells us to rejoice in it. Matthew 5:10–12, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Jesus tells us that we should expect persecution, and to rejoice when we do. I find it hard to imagine the North American church celebrating the prospect of persecution. North Americans fear suffering, all kinds of suffering. This is why medically assisted dying has become so acceptable. We use all kinds of things to escape pain, whether physical, emotional, mental or even spiritual pain. Television, the internet, entertainment, porn and other distractions are so popular because it helps us escape our pain and lose ourselves in someone else’s lives for a brief time.

Persecution happens regularly in the world today. Suicide bombers injured at least 19 people in a terrorist attack at a Roman Catholic church in Makassar, Indonesia right after Palm Sunday mass this year. “Thank God that no Christians died in the attack,” the Open Doors’ coordinator in South East Asia, said. “But some believers have been severely wounded, and all present have been traumatized. Their lives will never be the same. We ask the worldwide Church to pray for their brothers and sisters in Makassar.” Those in the churches in these places in the world are not asking to be rescued out of the persecution, but are asking us to pray for strength to stay true to Jesus and their faith. Their desire is to be a testimony for Jesus in their suffering, through how they suffer for Jesus.

Imagine that part of raising your children is to prepare them for the day you’re taken away because you are Christian? A mother in Iran shares how she prepared her daughter. She told the Open Doors coordinator, “I knew the day would come … the day they would knock on the door and take me and my husband to prison. Although everyone around me thought I was a housewife, I was, in fact, involved in full-time ministry. The authorities were bound to find out. We started preparing our daughter Lily* for persecution when she was still in primary school: “When they come and take mom and dad away, don’t worry,” we told her. “The Bible tells us it is normal to be persecuted as believers. They will take us to prison, ask us some questions, and hit us. Then we will come back.”

Then one day the parents were taken away by the authorities. The mother says, “On the way to prison, I thought about Lily and how she would know what to do when my sister picked her up from school and told her—Lily would pray for us. And when she was afraid, she would pray more. Not long after, I was released, as was my husband … through tears, I saw my Lily’s face again. She told me that she had been praying a lot for us. Spending these times in prayer and trusting the Lord in everything was a completely new experience for her. In hindsight, Lily says that she never grew more in her faith than during that time we were in prison. I prepared my Lily for what would happen when her parents were taken away. And I learned to put my Lily in the hands of the Lord, and He took care of her in miraculous ways.”

We don’t face persecution here in Canada. Yet Jesus warned us that following him cause people to hate us. Luke 21:16–19, “You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. Everyone will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. Stand firm, and you will win life.” “Why would people hate us for living out our faith,” a young man asked me once. We talked about what would happen if we truly did justice, loved mercy and walked humbly with God, if we lived out the sacrificial life found in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew where Jesus calls us to a radical faith. We decided that by living this way we would threaten our political leaders’ power, along with the centers of financial power. They would attack us because ultimately, Jesus’ way is radically different and calls us to give Jesus our first love and loyalty. Jesus died, to save us from our sin, and to transform us so that we think, live, feel, and believe like him.

How should we react to persecution, or to being rejected because we choose Jesus? Don’t be afraid, Jesus tells the church, he is walking among the churches, he is there with them. Faithfulness, to remind ourselves who Jesus calls us to be, how Jesus calls us to live as his followers, to let our lives be a witness to Jesus’ love and grace. Pray, when Peter was put into prison for confessing Jesus as Lord, the believers gathered together to pray, so pray for the persecuted church. Love, Jesus calls us to love our enemies and those who persecute us. Praise Jesus and rejoice, Jesus tells us in Matthew 5, not just in the good times, but also in the hard times. Persecution has the power to reveal Jesus to our community by how we react and live into it. Jesus says in Luke 21:12–13, “But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. And so you will bear testimony to me.”

Revelation 2:1-7 To the Church in Ephesus

 

This summer we’re taking a look at Jesus’ letters to seven of the churches in the area around the Mediterranean. These are all churches that were planted and started by Paul and others who travelled through the area bringing the good news of Jesus Christ. The churches grew and multiplied quickly, so quickly that religious, cultural, and government leaders felt threatened by this new faith in Jesus; a man crucified as a rebel and traitor to Rome and his own Jewish faith, who was buried, and then raised from the dead according to his followers, a man who claims to be God and is coming back again to claim this world and the entire universe for his kingdom. This often led to persecution and the rise of false teachers who mixed the teachings of Jesus with the practices and teachings of other faiths, often eastern mystical faiths.

Jesus, through a vision to John who’s exiled to the island of Patmos because he refuses to give up his loyalty to Jesus, writes a number of letters to encourage and challenge these seven churches. Jesus reveals himself through images from the prophet Daniel, dressed in radiant robes, head and hair white as snow, eyes like blazing fire, holding seven stars in his hand while a sword comes out of his mouth, his face shining like the sun. This is an image of power and holiness. Jesus is walking among seven lampstands which represent the seven churches; showing he’s close to his people, among his people. This is a vision of hope.

Jesus addresses the church in Ephesus first. He begins with praising the church in Ephesus. They’ve done a lot of good; Paul refers to what this church is like in his letter to them, Ephesians 1:15, “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people,” and Ephesians 2, “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” This is a church that knows and engages in doing good works, knowing that they’re God’s good work designed to do good works.

In Acts 19, we discover that Paul spends two years in Ephesus. Many accept Jesus as their Lord and saviour, but Paul also runs up against all kinds of opposition, from both Jews in the synagogue and from the Gentiles who lived there, especially the craftsmen who begin lose money as people begin to follow Jesus instead of Artemis. One of the craftsmen, Demetrius actually leads a riot against Paul. The city clerk calms things down, but Paul decides it’s time to move on. But while Paul is there, God does mighty things through him, “so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.”

Paul’s letter is filled with teaching and encouragement. His goal is to grow a church filled with mature followers of Jesus who live as children of the light, who live well in committed relationships with each other, who imitate God, and live holy pure lives. Paul grows really close to this church and when he’s on his way to Jerusalem, Paul calls the elders from the church to be strong and faithful to the truth of Jesus because wolves and false teachers are coming. He encourages the elders to help those who are weak, reminding them of Jesus’ words, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

There’s a willingness to sacrifice in order to honour God, doing good works for others. This is a church that’s really focused on cleaning up their lives and being true to Jesus. This is why Jesus praises them in his letter. Then comes a surprising claim by Jesus, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen!” It is also translated as, “You have forsaken your first love.” When you study church history, this may not be quite as surprising to you as it must have been for the Ephesians. Jesus talks about this in Matthew 24, “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”

When John receives this vision from Jesus, it’s during a time of persecution, something the church has gone through a number of times already. Nero and Caligula are two of the Caesars that you think of when it comes to persecution, but they weren’t alone in persecuting the followers of Jesus. In the early church, after times of persecution, the church faced a dilemma, there were Christians who had turned away from the faith in order to save their lives or families, but when it was safe to follow Jesus again, they came back. Church leaders wrestled over what to do with these fallen followers who returned, “What to do with them? The historian Justo Gonzales writes, “the issue was whether purity or forgiving love should be the characteristic of the church.” Some followed the Church Father Tertullian who believed that the “church was to be a community of saints, and the idolaters and apostates had no place in it,” while others “thought that the lapsed should be readmitted directly, with no other requirement than their own declaration of repentance.”

In these church battles, because of the persecution the church had gone through, the love of God and neighbour, the focus on loving God and neighbour which had shaped who they are, sometimes got lost. This happens in Ephesus and Jesus identifies it straight on here. Vision leaks. Churches start because people fall in love with Jesus. They hear his call to repent and believe as he reminds us that God who loves us so much that he sends his only begotten son to take the punishment of sin on himself so we’re made right with God. They hear Jesus call them to a new way of living focused on love and self-sacrifice for others, a call to give their lives for the life of the world so people from all nations can come to know the love of Jesus, the acceptance and grace of the Father, and receive the power of the Holy Spirit.

But we get distracted from Jesus’ call to love God with everything thing we have and are and to love our neighbour as ourselves. Our first love gets forgotten or placed on the back burner. During COVID, we got distracted by mask mandates, fears of losing our freedom, constitutional issues, and conspiracy issues and we sometimes forgot our purpose as a church is to love God and neighbour and to share the good news of Jesus to our neighbours as we help them out through their hard times; doing the good works God has blessed us to do, and being who he’s called us to be here in this place and time. Our first love is Jesus, and, as he reminds us, if we love him, we will keep his commands to love, and we do this through word and deed.

Elders and deacons, on a day when we’ve installed new leaders, know that one of your main tasks as leaders in Bethel is to ensure that we do not forsake our first love and that the love of Jesus is reflected in all our ministries and relationships.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Self-Control

 

We’ve been on a journey this spring with Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control,” as our guide. We’ve talked about and reflected on how love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness shape our hearts and souls as the core of our Christian character. It’s challenged us and, at least for myself, there have been “ouch” moments where I’ve seen a lot of areas in my own walk with Jesus that I still have a lot of room to grow. The last year and a half have been difficult at times and I have not always lived out the fruit of the Spirit as well as I should have, and if some of you have felt hurt at times because of that, I apologize. This is why self-control is so important.

Self-control is the part of the fruit that provides a foundation for the rest of the fruit. Paul’s wise in ending the description of the fruit of the Spirit with self-control. Someone asked this week about the fruit of the Spirit, and that if it comes from the Spirit, then the Spirit must produce it. They were wondering how that happens. Self-control’s a good time to reflect on that a moment. The Spirit does produce the fruit in our hearts and lives, but like with many gifts from God, the fruit is given to us and then, through practices such as the spiritual disciplines like scripture reading, prayer, meditation, serving others, confession, silence, generosity, and others, we nourish and grow these seeds of the fruit of the Spirit so they shape and feed our hearts, souls and lives more into the image of Jesus.

Paul’s writing to the church in the city of Thessalonica. Here, near the end of the letter, he’s encouraging the people to live life in such a way that they’re always be ready for Jesus coming back. As Jesus said, even he didn’t know exactly when he’s coming back. As a number of his parables warned, his return will be like a thief coming in the night, unexpectedly. Just before this, Paul was talking about when Jesus will return like a king coming to inspect his city. Before his arrival, the city cleans everything up, white washing the buildings so that when the king arrives at sunup from the west, the sun will shine over the city, making it glow brightly. Watchers were placed outside the city to let everyone know when they see the king arriving and then the entire city goes out to escort the king to his city, this is the only time the word rapture is used in the Bible, to describe the people going out to escort the king into his city. This is the image of Jesus’ return. This is why Paul is telling the people in the church here to keep watching for Jesus, to not fall asleep or get distracted and miss out on his return. This takes self-control.

Thessalonica was a bustling city, which is why Paul’s ends the letter with a warning to not get sucked into the ways and values of the culture of the city. Pastor Amy Peeler tells us a little about what Thessalonica was like, “In the first century world, many of the religious options of the day included nocturnal celebrations that included alcohol and sexual promiscuity. Dionysus, the god of wine, was worshipped in Thessalonica, and his nighttime celebrations had the reputation of being frenzied, ecstatic, carousing events. The Thessalonians, being called from the worship of dead idols to serve the living God, no longer should participate in such events. Instead of being unclothed they are to put on the specific clothing readying them for battle.” Night times were filled with these wild parties, which helps us understand why Paul calls the people “to be awake and sober.” The word Greek word for sober ‘nepho’ also means self-control, but because of Dionysus, Paul goes with sober, but the idea is staying in control of yourself when everything else is crazy around you.

As one commentary mentions, Paul’s calling them to be who they are, “children of the light and children of the day.” Since they’re children of the light and day time, it makes sense that they’re not going to sleep, that they’re awake and alert, unlike the followers of Dionysus who sleep during the day because they’re getting drunk at night. The word “sleep” was often used for being dead, but here, when Paul uses the word “sleep,” he’s talking about moral dullness, about having minds so dull and slow that they no longer even have a sense of good or bad, of what’s healthy and what’s unhealthy for them morally, spiritually, and even physically. It’s easy to slip into this way of thinking and living life when all we hear and see all around us is to do what feels good, and it doesn’t look like anyone is really getting hurt, at least not that badly. It even looks like a lot of fun and like many people, deep down, a lot of us do believe that following Jesus means that we have to give up having fun like our friends and everyone else.

Yet, in the long run, this kind of lifestyle of the Thessalonians hurts them and the different relationships in their lives. I’ve unfortunately seen way too many marriages, friendships, and families break apart because of similar life style choices. It hurts to see people you care about hurt themselves and the people around them, all the while thinking that they’re living the great life while using each other to forget how meaningless their lives really are. Paul and God want better and more for them. This is why Paul encourages them to protect their heads and hearts by putting on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of salvation. Pastor Amy Peeler writes, “With the vital organs protected, the Thessalonians could live with emotions protected by faith and love, and thoughts shielded by the hope of salvation. Again, Paul is only encouraging them to continue practicing what they are already doing, as he has expressed prayerful thanksgiving for their faith, love, and hope.” 

Paul believes Jesus is coming back soon and he wants as many people to come to know Jesus as possible before Jesus returns. Paul tells the church to practice self-control and to live lives that are different from the people around as a witness to their faith. What we really believe and value does show up in how we live our lives and the people around us notice. The early church grew because they sought out ways to show God’s love to their communities, building hospitals, schools, and taking care of the poor, the orphans, and those who were hurting. The Roman Empire had a hard time stamping out these followers of Jesus because they made the Empire look bad by taking care of its poor and sick when Caesar didn’t care. This is why the church grew so quickly among the poor and the slave class.

It takes self-control to be different, to live out the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Shaping our minds and hearts on the parts of the Spirit takes self-control, choosing to approach life and people with the Holy Spirit shaping how we see and interact with others, whether they are people we like, or people whom we may dislike. We choose to shape our lives around who Jesus tells us we are to be. We control our thoughts, our feelings, our perceptions and beliefs, always centering them on Jesus; on who Jesus is, how he lived his life and who he taught us to be as his followers. We put into practice the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, practicing it over and over again, like an artist or athlete, so it becomes a natural part of who we are.

When love is hard to do, we remember how God chose to love us and we act in love until our heart catches up with our head. When we get tempted to see only the negative and brokenness in the world, we train ourselves to look for where God is at work and celebrate as we join God in what he’s doing. When there is conflict, we work to bring reconciliation and peace rather than add to the brokenness. When the world feels harsh, we seek out ways to be kind and gracious, when selfishness seems everywhere, we focus on deliberately finding ways to do good. When it seems that faithfulness has disappeared, we remember that God is faithful to us and we recommit ourselves to being a blessing and remain faithful to Jesus and his call to build his kingdom here and be an encouraging presence. We do all this with a spirit of gentleness and love, caring always for our neighbours and brothers and sisters, even ahead of ourselves because we recognize the image of God in them.

Loving God with everything we are and have, loving our neighbours as ourselves, loving them so much that our heart desire is to share the gospel news of Jesus with them and invite them to join us in following Jesus. We’re called to live as if Jesus is coming back today, while at the same time, planning and doing ministry to make disciples for Jesus so, that when he returns, there will be a multitude to accompany him as he comes to claim his kingdom here.

Philippians 4:2-9 Gentleness

 

Paul writes this letter to the church in Philippi while in prison in Rome. He’s facing a trial with Caesar and there’s no guarantee he’s going to be set free. Paul’s letter to the church here is one focused on encouraging and building them up; you can tell that he really cares about the people in this church. He reminds them of what being a follower of Jesus looks like, encouraging them in chapter 1, “to conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ,” which is quickly followed by describing what the attitude of Jesus is in chapter 2. Running through this letter is the theme of joy, in spite of persecution and difficult times. Paul writes, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” This is not meant to make those who struggle with depression or mental health feel guilt, Paul simply wants to point us to the good news of Jesus, and a reminder that when Jesus returns there will be healing and release from the chains of depression and mental health struggles.

Growing up, gentleness wasn’t necessarily something I was taught as a boy, it always felt like a girl thing. Boys were supposed to be strong; they didn’t cry or show weakness. I know, sounds old-fashioned and chauvinistic, but that was the culture I was raised in. Gentleness was also not seen as a positive character trait in the time of Jesus and Paul. They were being ruled by Rome, a military power that preferred strength and saw gentleness as a weakness. Yet Paul calls on the people of Philippi to “let their gentleness be evident to all.” Gentleness is outward looking, it’s about humility, and being considerate of others. Paul talks about gentleness because two people he cares about are in a big disagreement.

People today often focus on strength rather than gentleness. Omid Safi, an Iranian-American professor at Duke University, writes, “Ours seems to be a world that values “strength.” We want “hard” bodies, “strong” minds, “tough” wills, “hard as nail” determination, “rugged” personalities, “sturdy” character, and so on. I wonder if we have confused hardness with the strength it takes to truly give and receive love. Let us praise softness. I’m speaking here of hearts, of soft hearts, of gentle spirits. I’m speaking of the gentleness to give and receive love.”

Gentleness is a quiet strength with the power to change how other people act and react to the things happening around them. Teachers know this well. When dealing with children who are angry and on the edge of getting out of control; a gentle voice, a soft touch, along with patience, calmness, and love are usually able to help the child settle down and even see things differently. I have seen this in hospitals with families in panic, families who are angry and frustrated, often because they don’t know what’s going on, and then a nurse or chaplain or pastor comes alongside them, gently and compassionately helping them find calmness, strength, and ability to face the situation they’re in from a place of more strength. In a hospital waiting room I watched a physically powerful man filled with deep anger move back from his anger when a nurse gently talked with him, addressing the situation, showing a willingness to listen, and the compassion that shows they truly cared for the man and his wife. Gentleness sees the person before seeing what they’ve done or what they’re going through. Gentleness is one person’s soul reaching out to another person’s soul who is struggling.

 

The Preaching and Worship website reminds us that “true Christ-like gentleness is rooted in strength and assurance. Christians are gentle not because they lack all conviction but because they are so convicted of the truth of the gospel that they feel no need to scream about it or foist it onto others in brusque and brash ways. Gentleness may conjure up the image of a lamb and, if so, that is apropos to Christ as the Lamb of God. But Christ is also rightly depicted as the Lion of Judah. The gentleness of Christ as Lamb is rooted in the power of Christ as Lion.”

Paul calls Gaius to gentleness as he guides Paul’s friends.  Euodia and Syntyche’s disagreement is serious enough for Paul to call Gaius and the church to help the women to work their disagreement out. Focusing on gentleness and joy feels strange, especially when dealing with conflict; yet gentleness seems to just slip in unexpectedly. Why rejoice and be gentle? Because the Lord is near!

Paul is a wise and educated person and knows a lot about how people work emotionally and spiritually. He doesn’t quote Proverbs here, but the emotional wisdom of Proverbs 15:1, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger,” shapes his call to Euodia and Syntyche to reconcile.  Paul writes in Ephesians 4:1–3, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Mark D. Roberts writes about the importance of unity in the church and explains the importance of humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance. “If a Christian community is going to be unified, in reality and not just in theory, then its members will need to be humble, gentle, and patient. They will need to put up with each other. We begin to "make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit," not by grand pronouncements, nor by focusing on the oddities of others, but rather by acting humbly, gently, patiently, and tolerantly.” This is true for all relationships: family, marriage, friendships, at work or school.

Jesus points us to his own gentleness in Matthew 11, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” It’s the gentleness of Jesus that creates trust in him, confidence that when we come to him, that he will give us strength when we are weak. Jesus is the gentle soul who attracts children, with whom outcasts feel comfortable, and who is the gentle shepherd who describes himself as gathering up lost sheep in his arms.

What does gentleness in the Bible look like? In Titus 3:2 “slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone,” gentleness cam also be translated as humble or meek, while in James 3:17 we read, “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” Here the word considerate can also be translated as gentleness. Then in 1 Peter 2:18 we read, “Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh,” considerate can again be translated as gentle and is contrasted with harsh. But at its heart, gentleness sees the image of God in everyone and humbly comes alongside people to help them see Jesus in their lives and find hope in God’s love.

Gentleness in the Bible is multi-faceted, meaning that there’s a lot to this word. Gentleness is seen as part of our character, part of who we are; it’s not just something we do, it’s who we are. Gentleness is important in growing a strong unity within the church which is made up of very diverse people. In many cases, we call people brother and sister who we would never have built relationships if it wasn’t for the Holy Spirit bringing us together in the church. It takes gentleness, humility, and consideration for each other in order to grow the trust needed to be family together. Gentleness takes hard work inside our own hearts to grow, and it takes hard work to practice regularly and consistently with others, both in and outside of the church family. Following Jesus means growing up and becoming mature people who are consistently focused outwards with grace towards others instead of ourselves. There is little room for selfishness as a follower of Jesus.

Richard Mouw writes that “many convicted Christians place a central emphasis on the harsher side of the Bible's portrayal of God's character: sovereignty, holiness, power, wrath, and the like... God is a sovereign ruler — but in Jesus Christ, he made it clear that he is that rare kind of ruler who comes to his people in the form of a servant. God is holy — but his holiness is revealed in his love for us. God is all-powerful — but his supreme power is displayed in the weakness and vulnerability of the cross... As agents of God's righteousness, we are called to imitate the divine character. In our efforts at public discipleship, we need to cultivate the traits that are associated with God's own kindness and gentleness."

Gentleness, a characteristic of God himself, part of the fruit of the Spirit, may you experience the gentleness of Jesus and reach out in gentleness into our community and touch everyone with God’s grace and love.

3 John Faithfulness

 

Have you ever had a friend who hurt you? Maybe they shared something unkind about you with someone else, or maybe they ignored you at school or at a party and made you feel sad and like you’re not even their friend anymore? Faithfulness is one of those character traits that we look for in people because it shows that the person is mature and trustworthy. The Dictionary of Bible Themes defines faithfulness as “commitment to a relationship with God or fellow human beings, seen in that loyalty, devotion, and service which is a reflection of God’s own faithfulness. Scripture points to the faithfulness of Jesus Christ as an example for believers.”

Our faithfulness flows out of God, a reflection of his faithfulness to us. All you need to do to get a sense of how faithful God is to us is read the Bible, beginning in Genesis, especially Genesis 3 and then follow how God sticks with humanity even though we keep throwing his faithfulness to us back in his face time and again as we keep choosing other gods over God. I say ‘we’ because we’re no different than the people in the Bible. Tim Keller says that we tend to take the good things that God blesses us with and turn them into gods by making them more important in our hearts than God himself. As I look at my own life, I realize that it’s done so easily, without even knowing it at the time. It takes a deliberate choice each day to follow Jesus above everything else. It kind of hit me as I was studying for this sermon, that just as I feel hurt and betrayed when a friend or loved does something that makes you feel unloved or small, that God must feel hurt too when I’m not faithful to him and choose other things to love more than him. I think that many people forget that God feels things too; Jesus lived life deeply and emotionally. Faithfulness is a 100% commitment. For those of you who are married, can you imagine the response if you told your spouse that you figure 85% faithfulness is good enough? Yet we do that to God pretty regularly.

In John’s third letter, John’s writing to a dear friend, Gaius. We first meet Gaius as a travelling partner of Paul in Acts 19 and 20. Paul also mentions Gaius in his first letter to the church in Corinth, where we discover that Paul had baptized Gaius into the faith, “My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”  Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized in my name.” Paul challenged the people in Corinth to remember that Jesus is the center of our faith, not Apollos, Cephas or even Paul. Paul’s calling them back to faithfulness to Jesus.

Scott Hoezee writes about 3 John, “The major, major theme of John, and in the Gospel of John, too, and in I John, this whole idea of the truth; and the truth is, as we know, and as we will learn from other parts of this letter, the truth is the truth about Jesus, and the truth that He was God’s own Son, and the truth – that is the right teaching about Jesus – orthodoxy – leads to orthopraxis, which is to act in a right way. So, orthodoxy leads to orthopraxis – right teaching leads to right practice; and in Gaius’s case, this is an exercise of hospitality. Love – sacrificial love of Jesus – showing itself in hospitality to these people who have come to him and he has taken in.”

John shares with Gaius, “They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. It was for the sake of the name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought, therefore, to show hospitality to such people, so that we may work together for the truth.” Faithfulness to Jesus leads to faithfulness to others who are also followers of Jesus. We are called to live together in community together, to be family together as the church, to show the world what faithful healthy relationships look like in the kingdom of God. This is why John calls out Diotrephes who puts himself and his place in the church above being a blessing to others, even other followers of Jesus.

In John 14, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus is saying that our life needs to be formed on his teaching and example, he is the way we should live; our life is based on the truth, on being faithful to him alone; and Jesus is the life that he talks about when he says in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Gaius, as John says, is faithful to the truth, walking in the truth. Gaius’ faithfulness to Jesus is seen in his faithfulness to these people who have come in Jesus’ name to bring the good news of Jesus to those who still haven’t heard of Jesus, or haven’t committed to following Jesus yet. This is what being faithful to Jesus is all about; it’s not simply believing the right things, it moves into doing right things; it’s about taking the command to go make disciples and making it central to our lives as we follow Jesus. It’s about commitment and faithfulness to the local church, committing to work with each other, using our gifts and resources to share the gospel, to be a blessing in our community, seeking justice and mercy for those overlooked and oppressed and being faithful to our community. Faithfulness is all about relationships of trust and commitment to God, each other, and the people of our community. This is at the heart of our faith and faithfulness to Jesus.

Faithfulness, as part of the fruit of the Spirit, and our character, shapes all our relationships. This is why marriage is often used as an image of Jesus’ relationship with the church, because marriage is a relationship fully rooted in faithfulness to each other. Some one asked me once why the church insists that couples get married instead of simply living together, at least at first to see if they fit together and I told the person that marriage is rooted in promises to each other, it’s a relationship based on commitment rather than feelings because feelings change, but commitment doesn’t, and because it shows that you recognize that marriage is about loyalty, devotion and serving each other. Living together only shows the other person that their commitment to your relationship is based on how long it satisfies them, makes them feel good, instead of faithfulness and sacrifice for the other person.

Faithfulness builds up the other person, leading us to say like John the Baptist does about Jesus, “He must become greater; I must become less.” The band Casting Crowns says it this way,

“Cause I’m just a nobody

Trying to tell everybody

All about Somebody who saved my soul

Ever since You rescued me

You gave my heart a song to sing

I’m living for the world to see Nobody but Jesus.”

Because we are all created in the image of God, we’re all called to be encouragers and builders up of all people, pointing them to Jesus where they can experience Jesus’ love and faithfulness to us. This is part of showing the world what the kingdom of God is all about, what faithfulness to God looks like.

Faithfulness to our communities flows out of our faithfulness to God. God has placed us where we are for his reasons, in a place to live out our faithfulness to him. We are all human beings created in the image of God. Faithfulness to Jesus means loving God with everything we are, seriously studying and knowing his Word so that we can live out his image and values in our community out of God’s love for them. By living out Jesus’ truth in love, we show our community what truth is, what truth looks like in a world muddied with many opinions based on how the person feels at the time, or on how it benefits them over others. Jesus reveals truth: we’re all broken sinful people who need a perfect saviour who is God and human to take our sin away and make us right again with God and each other. This Saviour, who is Jesus, then calls us to live out his truth love to Him and to each other through acts of sacrificial love through the good works prepared for us to do to show our faithfulness to God.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Song of Songs 1:4-7; 2:2; 2:14; 4:1-7; Psalm 139:13-14 Wonderfully Made

This is a difficult message for me because I have a wonderful wife and great kids and grandkids, some of whom have wrestled hard with images of self-worth and respect because of how they’ve been treated. The message this morning is about brokenness and hurt: how we’re hurt and how we hurt each other. We have all been impacted by what we are going to be talking about this morning. We live in a good country, but there are areas where our culture fails us. Companies hi-light all our flaws and then offer their solutions to our failure to not be beautiful or cool enough. They have hyper-sexualized our youth and women and this creates low self images as the images of women and girls online and on tv are so photoshopped they never even come close to showing a real woman or girl.

When we are told we aren’t beautiful enough or good enough, when we’re told that we need to value ourselves by what we look like or by what we have, we need to remember who we are: deeply loved children of God. I know it can be hard to remember that when you look into the mirror and all you see are your faults, when you look at your accomplishments and wonder if that outfit, that car, that boat or house might make you feel like you’re somebody, remember that none of that is important to your heavenly father; all that’s important to God is that you know you’re loved and valued by him.

Today we’re looking at a couple of issues that the church has always found it hard to talk about, pornography and gender issues. Yet if we don’t become comfortable talking about these things from a Biblical approach, our youth are left to learn from media and impressionable friends who want to be loving and not say that any kind of lifestyle is wrong because they might offend someone. It doesn’t matter if you’re a grandparent or parent or unmarried, our youth need us to become comfortable talking about these things. They are being exposed to these things already as young as 9 or 10 outside the home. They need us.

Pornography tears us down, especially women, making them into objects to serve our lusts rather than as beautiful and precious people created in the image of God. Our kids are encountering it earlier and earlier. Porn hurts people. It promises easy relationships with no ties, but then wraps our hearts and minds in powerful chains of lust and shame. It destroys our relationships, taking away the image of God in each of us. Porn turns our real people relationships into things to be used and thrown away. If you no longer please. I’ll swipe left.

The Song of Songs is a love poem in the Bible. It’s part of the wisdom literature that tells us how to live wisely in our relationships as men and women. Because we’re being conditioned to see others simply as objects for our own desire, the Song shows us how a man and woman should show and express love and respect to each other. In the Song of Songs, the woman feels down about herself, her skin is too dark, she works at a common job, she’s not pretty. She turns to one she loves, calling him to tell her where he grazes his flocks so she can come to him in the daylight as a respectable woman, one with honour and pride in herself, even though her looks may not measure up to the daughters of Jerusalem. She knows she’s precious. She respects herself, refusing to be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of his friends, a reference to prostitutes and an echo to the story of Ruth and Boaz and how Ruth trusted that Boaz would treat her with respect and honour when she came to him at the threshing floor in the evening.

The man responds to her and builds her up, encouraging her. This is how we are supposed to respond to each other, building up and encouraging them to be whom God has created them to be, showing respect. Pornography takes our dignity away from us; the ability to really get to see and know the other person and the image of God in the person. As you read through the poem, the woman speaks highly of the man, expressing her admiration for him, showing him respect and honour. The man responds with words of admiration, expressing his love with beautiful words, using the beauty of creation to describe her beauty. He proclaims it to the world. Last week we touched on how men and women are created equal but different; men needing respect and women needing love. This is expressed in the Song of Songs.

The discussions on gender and homosexuality are tied to the porn epidemic because it all revolves around our image of ourselves and how our identity is rooted in our sexuality. We live in a so-called tolerant culture that says you have to accept everyone, that we have to embrace and endorse the other person, even if we disagree with their values. This is especially true about moral issues. If you disagree with someone over the moral values, you are declared wrong, intolerant, and then shamed. The tolerant quickly become intolerant of those they disagree with. This is what our youth face when they say they hold onto a historical Biblical interpretation of sexuality. They’re told they don’t fit in today’s tolerant society. There are a lot of our youth and adults today who are walking wounded, wanting to fit in, tempted to change what they believe and accept what our culture says is right because they’ve been rejected and even shunned.

I’ve been wrestling with our culture’s definition of tolerance. This is where the Bible comes in. I believe a healthier approach to working through moral issues is not tolerance, but love. It begins with knowing where our identity comes from. Our culture tells us that our sexuality, ethnic roots, and gender are our core identities. When I turn to Scripture, God reminds us of who we are: we are people created in the image of God, fearfully and wonderfully made, masterpieces in the eyes of God, precious to him, valued greatly by Jesus, loved enough to die for as King David reminds us, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful; I know that full well.” We’ve been adopted into God’s family: beloved daughters and sons of God, princesses and princes in the kingdom of heaven. This is our first and primary identity, this is where we find our strength and life direction. As children of God, we choose to trust him and what he teaches us in the Bible.

It’s important to learn to see ourselves and each other through the eyes of God. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 3:16–17, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.” Paul carries on this same theme in Ephesians 2:22, “And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” God has made us his home! When we hear the Bible with ears of love, we can engage our critical culture and keep our hearts and lives strong when meeting people who believe differently than we do about homosexuality and the other gender issues our culture and church are wrestling with. But it begins with us being clear on what we believe, talking about what we believe, and basing it on God’s word. Culture keeps changing while God’s Word has remained a strong firm foundation for thousands of years.

It’s not about convincing others that what we believe is right and what they believe is wrong, that seldom makes a difference. When we root ourselves in loving God and loving our neighbour, we engage our culture best by being determined to see the image of God in each other, engaging them with respect and honour while sharing with them God’s love. I always seem to come back to Jesus, to the people he encountered and how he treated them. Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well. He knows that she’s been married 5 times before and now is simply living with a man, but he treats her with respect and honour and she becomes his first missionary; all because he treated her with basic love. then there is the woman that is thrown down into the dirt before Jesus because she was caught in an adulterous situation. Jesus gets down in the dirt with her and starts writing in the dirt, and when her accusers slink away, Jesus asks her where her accusers are and she tells them they’re gone. Jesus then tells her that he’s not going to judge her either, but he also adds, “Go and sin no more.” Jesus shows compassionate love to her and he wants what is best for her, which is why he told her to go sin no more. We need to be talking with each other and with our youth and children about sexuality, as uncomfortable as it may be at times for us. We study the Bible, we study science, and we humbly engage in conversations with each and our culture about who God calls us to be as his children.

People are changed when they see what we are for, rather than what we’re against. As we trust in God’s love for us, we trust that what God has revealed in the Bible about what healthy relationships and identity are, is what’s best for us. We also acknowledge the brokenness that sin has brought into the world.

We, without apology to our culture, shape our lives and loves on how God has called us to live, based on love rather than the intolerant tolerance we encounter today. One thing we do need to remember is that we are called to love those who believe differently than we do, we need to treat them with respect as people who are wonderfully made as they work through who they are.

We are wonderfully created, loved by God, and challenged by God to live as his people in the way of Jesus. Through Jesus’ love flowing through us, we show it looks like to be free to be who God calls us to be. Being a follower of Jesus is not about what we are against, but about who we are and what we do as Jesus’ followers: love each other and all our neighbours in active ways, serve our community in love in real practical ways, and sharing with them who Jesus is and how much he loves them, and how Jesus is calling them to follow his way: to trust his truth so they can experience and full blessed life.